Recerca is a biannual journal published in April and October each year by theDepartment of Philosophy and Sociologyat the Universitat Jaume I of Castellón (Spain). It is a blind peer-reviewed journal that aims to attract articles of the highest scientific quality from researchers in Spain and abroad working in the fields of philosophy and critical sociology. The journal is indexed in SCOPUS, Sello de Calidad del FECYT, Humanities Source Publications, Fuente Académica Premier, Emerging Sources Citation Index, Philosopher’s Index, Erih-plus, CIRC (category B in the area of humanities), e-revist@s and Latindex.

Call for research papers:

The capitalist market system has been questioned and criticised for many years, but recent decades have seen an increase in the number of proposals for alternatives to the present market system which favours the most advantaged and escalates inequality (Piketty 2014; Stiglitz, 2012). These proposals have arisen out of the realisation that the current prevailing consumer capitalism model is environmentally unsustainable and socially unjust, and contributes to increased inequalities and economic polarisation.

The questioning of the capitalist system is nothing new, and for decades social economy and cooperativism (in their diverse forms) have attempted to go beyond this model of wealth generation and distribution, bringing to the table proposals that put people and their needs before resources and capital. But it is in the early years of the twenty-first century, particularly following the 2008 financial crisis, that new and diverse alternative proposals (some radical and others reformist) have come to the fore, designed to reorient the goals of the economic system and change the established asymmetric relationships of corporations and business.

These new proposals, sometimes referred to as new economic or business models, are “dominated by the old utopia of preserving and enhancing life, increasing liberty, strengthening equality, and encouraging fraternity” (Moreno, 2014). The following list of proposals, which is by no means exhaustive, contains examples of models that researchers may wish to critically explore:

Collaborative or shared economy,

Feminist or caring economy,

Economy for the common good,

Entrepreneurship and social innovation,

Circular economy,

Civil economy,

…

These new proposals have attracted growing attention in recent years: some aim to radically transform the liberal paradigm of consumer capitalism, while others propose using the dynamics of consumer capitalism for the benefit of the least advantaged, or simply redressing its undesired effects on them.

The aim of this edition of Recerca. Revista de Pensament i Análisis is to undertake a critical reading of such proposals in an attempt to evaluate them in terms of their normative level and demonstrate the barriers or difficulties hindering their practical development (Cortina et al., 2008). This reflection may revolve around the following questions, among others:

Is a model alternative, reformist or “continuist”? (To what extent are these models really “alternative”, “reformist” or simply a “reformulation or adaptation” of the dominant capitalist model?

What are the most valid and appropriate theoretical frameworks for analysing these models?

What are their essential features, and how are they different from other models?

What are the epistemological, historical and anthropological assumptions underlying these new proposals?

What are the economic and social implications these models propose?

What are the greatest obstacles or barriers to developing these new models?

What experiences endorse these new proposals?

How do the political sphere and civil society operate within these models?

How far are the dimensions of these models linked to ecosystem conservation?

…

With this edition of Recerca. Revista de Pensament i Anàlisis we hope to make a contribution to the critical clarification and ordering of these alternative economic and business models, and by doing so, help create a fairer society.

In order to develop the proposals and draw up a consistent, cohesive monograph, a workshop will be held on the subject in the Instituto Ingenio (http://www.ingenio.upv.es/es) of the Universidad Politécnica de Valencia (Spain).

Date of workshop: 27 October, 2017.

The deadline for workshop proposals is 31 July, 2017. (Extend until 12 October)

Defourny, J., & Nyssens, M. (2010): “Conceptions of social enterprise and social entrepreneurship in Europe and the United States: Convergences and divergences”, Journal of social entrepreneurship, 1(1), 32-53.